In my conversation with Erin, she and I talk about friendships in eating disorder recovery, eating disorders in college athletes, raising a child with food allergies, recovery tips and goals, and more.

Erin struggled with an eating disorder as a star soccer player and has a unique perspective on eating disorders in college athletes. She is also the author of a children’s book based on her son Austin who has severe food allergies. In her story Erin sheds some light on how to work your recovery even when there are very real food limitations involved.

Amy’s story tells of her experiences with an eating disorder and major depression, as well as the power that her scale had over her. She talks about how amazing her life is now, and how her faith and religion helped her recover.

In her story Karli tells about her struggle with anorexia and how learning about the physical body and nutrition helped her in her recovery. In our conversation, Karli and I talk about why she believes someone is always in recovery, the mental and physical effects of an eating disorder, relationships in recovery, and how her ED made her a stronger person.

In her story, Sam reads two eerily similar journal entries written several years apart. What they both have in common? The last sentence which says, “I want to be me again”. In our conversation, we talk about orthorexia and how it is portrayed in the media and on social media, yoga, and the benefits of having hard conversations with people that we love.

In my conversation with Janine, she and I talk more about being a recovery role model, how to find motivation to heal when the people around you don’t understand your struggle, having a relationship with how your body looks, positive affirmations and more.

Janine’s mission is to help others experience the brightest and most authentic version of the light within themselves. In her story she talks about the feeling of loneliness and how it contributed to her eating disorder. She also talks about how having a recovery pet, being in a sales position, and starting to live life on HER terms helped her in recovery.

Elena reads a chapter from her upcoming book that tells of her struggle with binge eating disorder and bulimia from a young age. In our conversation we talk about how visualization and inner child work helped her heal, as well as EDs and recovery in Italy, and advice for mothers of children with EDs.

Sarah is a fully recovered eating disorder recovery coach who was certified through the Carolyn Costin Institute. She tells of her long struggle with an eating disorder and how finding a meditation and spiritual practice that resonated with her was a significant factor in her recovery.

In this Meditation Bit, Kristen reads 3 meditations from the book “The Radiance Sutras” by Lorin Roche which is a translation of the tantric text the Bhairavan Tantra. Two of the three meditations discuss how you can use your pain and wounds as portals into healing.

In my conversation with Mollie we talk about the amazingness of the female body, as well as give advice for how parents can approach puberty with their daughters. We also talk about the neuroscience behind bulimia, Overeaters Anonymous, and the recovery vs recovered debate from the standpoint of the 12-steps.

Mollie tells of life growing up in LA culture and how puberty and the implications of developing a woman’s body impacted her struggle with bulimia. Now a clinician in the eating disorder field, Mollie talks about the neuroscience behind bulimia and how the 12-steps and boxing helped her in her recovery.

In my conversation with Colleen we talk more about the biopsychosocial model of mental health and illness, personality traits in people with eating disorders, advice for people who are in recovery that want to work in the eating disorder field, Health at Every Size, and more.

In her story, Colleen describes the “perfect storm” that led to her eating disorder. Now a Health at Every Size informed Clinical Psychologist in Virginia, Colleen also tells of how finding meaning and purpose in her life helped her in her recovery. As someone who escaped the fire of an eating disorder, she is running back with buckets of water to help those still stuck.

In Steph’s interview we talk more about the diet culture in Hong Kong, how she learned to accept that she was more than just her eating disorder, and how CrossFit helped her in her recovery. She also talks about how YOU can get involved in Body Banter.

Steph struggled with anorexia while growing up in Hong Kong. In her story she talks about the impact that the extreme diet in Hong Kong had on her. In addition to extreme diet culture, Hong Kong also had a major lack of eating disorder awareness and treatment options. As a result, Steph recovered at home with the support of her family. Steph is now a student at Duke University and is the founder of Body Banter, which is an online platform that aims to engage communities in increased discussions about body image, raise awareness about the diversity in our experiences of body image issues and to make body positivity practices accessible and engaging.

Jess is a therapist who primarily works with adolescents with eating disorders because she was an adolescent when she was in recovery. Now recovered from all types of eating disorders, Jess tells the story of what it was like to be in treatment and recovery as a teenager and how she shifted her identity from someone with an eating disorder to someone who is a true bad ass. Other topics include advice for the loved ones of adolescents with eating disorders and body positive, fat acceptance literary suggestions.

In the interview portion of Jen's episode, we go deeper into the topics of rehab, pregnancy, and motherhood. We also talk about depression, blind weights, intuitive eating, and the DBT skill of opposite action.